Redistricting special session will last weeks

Sen. Kel Seliger, the upper chamber’s redistricting chief during the special session, is hoping to get a bill outlining the state’s election maps on the Senate floor for a vote by June 15.

“That right now tentatively looks like our target date,” Seliger said during a minutes-long Senate session Thursday.

Also, it appears that the full Senate is open to the idea of taking up amendments during floor debate. Up until now, the narrow scope of Gov. Rick Perry’s call for the special session has raised lots of questions as to whether Democrats could even submit tweaks to the interim voting maps that Republicans are aiming to put in place.

In a brief back-and-forth on the Senate floor, Austin Democrat Kirk Watson put the question of amendments to Wichita Falls Republican Craig Estes, who was sitting in as senate president at the time.

The answer: Even though Perry’s call was specifically limited to making permanent a set of temporary maps drawn by a federal court, the governor cannot limit how the Legislature ultimately shapes the final contours of the state’s election maps during the special session.

“I’ve been studying that issue,” Estes responded to Watson. “We are not bound to only consider the court drawn maps.”

Original story:

Sen. Kel Seliger, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting, plans to stretch out public hearings on the state’s elections maps over the next couple of weeks.

At the first redistricting hearing of the special session, Seliger said Thursday he’ll hold at least three more sessions to gather public input, including a pair with civil rights groups. The last of the three hearings has been tentatively scheduled for June 12.

The timeline Seliger laid out Thursday bucks the general thinking at the Capitol about a swift special session on redistricting that would allow Republicans to wrap up ratifying interim voting maps by next week.

After today’s hearing, Seliger is planning to hold meetings with advocacy groups the week of June 3. A second hearing with the same minority and voting rights groups will be held on June 6 and any suggested amendments will be due by June 10 (Seliger said today he’ll consider amendments, the first indication that changes to the interim maps will be considered).

A third and final hearing has been set for June 12.

“I want to stress that my door is open,” Seliger said, noting earlier that he’s floated the idea of holding a joint hearing with the House on Saturday.

Seliger let members of the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting know Wednesday in a letter that he planned to expand the hearing process.

“In addition to receiving public testimony during those hearings, I plan to make myself available to meet personally with interested parties who wish to present specific legal objections and alternatives,” Seliger wrote. “My goal is to consider all input and present finalized maps for a vote of the full Senate after that process.”